Between the Lines
by lord-of-all-kobuns
Summary: A collection of miniature stories and ficlets. Some are funny, some are serious, and they take place in all sorts of time periods. All are heavily influenced by my own theories. Some contain major spoilers for various games which will be marked. Enjoy.
1. An Evening of Fun

Miles Edgeworth stood on the doorstep of Phoenix's apartment, pink Gameboy Advance SP in hand. He had no idea why he had accepted Phoenix's offer. Something had compelled him to.

He banged on the door. Moments later, Phoenix answered it.

"Hello, Edgeworth!" he said. "Come in, come in."

Edgeworth stepped inside Phoenix's apartment and looked around. He headed toward the couch and sat down without invitation. He looked up as Phoenix plunked a large bowl of popcorn on the coffee table.

"Hang on, I need to put the movie in," Phoenix said, moving to a DVD player and putting Galaxy Quest inside. He turned on his large-screen TV, and went to sit next to Edgeworth.

"How did you get enough money to buy all this, Wright?" Edgeworth asked, incredulously. It was usually prosecutors who were payed the most. Even Winston Payne had a better salary than Wright. Of course, the prosecutors were payed by the state. Phoenix had stingy clients who, despite the fact that he had saved their lives, decided not to pay him. Of course, there was also the fact that his assisstant spent all the money on hamburgers...

"Just got a big payoff for the Gant case," Phoenix replied, fiddling with the remote controls. Finally, the movie was set up.

"Activate the Omega-13!" Phoenix said in a dramatic voice. Edgeworth, suddenly a lot less refined than normal, grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl.


	2. Manfred's Daily Tragedies

Manfred von Karma, "perfect" prosecutor with a win record dating back thirty years, sat at the dining room table with his two daughters. He had somehow been roped into a game of Monopoly, and was, although he hated to admit it, enjoying himself. He rolled a double six and moved to Park Place. He was winning, of course. He was perfect, after all. He threw the dice and rolled a two. Grabbing his marker (The hat), he moved to Boardwalk and bought that, too.

"Daddy!" Franziska whined. "You're buying all the good places!"

"Silence!" Manfred said, and rolled the dice again. It was a double two.

"Ooooh," the other daughter said. "You rolled three doubles in a row!"

"What does that mean?" Manfred said, looking at the rules.

"You have to go to jail!" Franziska said, and moved Manfred's piece to the IN JAIL square.

Manfred pounded the table, sending the pieces flying everywhere, and screamed with rage. 


	3. An Evening of More Fun

"No!" Edgeworth yelled at the screen. Him and Phoenix were watching old episodes of Star Trek at Edgeworth's house.

Phoenix looked at Edgeworth with mild amusement.

"You know, Edgeworth," he said. "You're the last person I'd expect to be a closet Star Trek fan."

"Of course I am, Wright! Now, be quiet, you're missing the good part."

The ship had to take down the enemy hoard. It charged up the lasers.

"Arg!" Edgeworth roared at the screen. "What are you doing? Use the tractor beam!"

Phoenix choked on the pretzels he had been eating. 


	4. Word Games

Maya and Pearl sat on the floor, playing Scrabble.

"OK, I'll put these this letter here," Maya said, spelling out "mice".

Pearl played next. She made the word "reveal" on a double word score. Morgan Fey, who was helping out, wrote down the score. Maya then played "burgers". Morgan looked at the board and whispered something in Pearl's ear. Pearl bent over the board for a second. When she straightened up, Maya looked at the board and gave an exclamation of surprise.

"Sesquicentennial?" she asked, weakly.

"And it's on a quadruple word score," Pearl said, a hint of smugness in her voice.

Maya just stared at the board, completely dumbstruck.


	5. Urning Respect

"Ha!" said Mia to her baby sister Maya. Mia held the urn containing the spirit of Ami Fey up.

"Whoever controls the urn controls the Undertaker!" she said, loudly. She knew about this from a program she had watched on TV, called VINTAGE WRESTLING. They had held the urn up and a man called The Undertaker had magically appeared. He was supposed to be a spirit from another world. Mia, having led a slightly sheltered life, had no idea that it was just smoke-and-mirrors.

She held the urn up high as Maya watched.

"Arise, Undertaker!" Mia said. Nothing happened. Mia looked at the urn. Maybe this was the wrong kind of urn. She held it upside down and shook it. Ever curious, Maya tried to grab it. The urn smashed on the ground.

"What is going on?" called the voice of Misty Fey.

"SHE DID IT!" Mia shrieked, and ran off.


	6. An Evening of Even More Fun

Once again, Edgeworth had been invited to Phoenix's apartment. Phoenix was, at the moment, setting up the GameCube.

"You remembered your Gameboy, right, Edgeworth?" Phoenix asked as he struggled with the A/V cables.

In reply, Edgeworth withdrew a pink Gameboy Advance SP from his pocket.

"Good, good," Phoenix said absently finally plugging the GameCube in. Because of his meager wages, this was all he could afford. He connected the two Gameboy Advances to the GameCube and turned it on. He sat on the couch next to Edgeworth.

"I'm stuck in that cloudy level," Phoenix complained, as the Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures logo filled the screen. Edgeworth selected Phoenix's file and entered "that cloudy level".  
"Edgeworth!" Phoenix said, as the four little Links were traversing the stage.

"What?" Edgeworth asked.

"Go into the Dark World! I think you can carry me across those chasms!"

Edgeworth did as he was told. Soon all four Links were across the gap.

This is more fun than it has any right to be, thought Edgeworth.


	7. Send in the Pros

"See, it happened like this, pal," Gumshoe was telling Chief Specter. "The victim had stopped at an intersection when he was struck by a car. The other car then fled!"

Chief Specter wrote down a few notes.

"Read me the accident report again," he said, smiling slightly.

"Sure thing, pal! It says: I had stopped at the intersection when an invisible car came out of nowhere, hit me, and vanished."

Specter snorted with laughter. The accident reports were the main reason he loved his job, apart from the times when something interesting happened across the street.

"Has anyone seen my stapler?" called Maggey Byrde from across the room. Gumshoe grabbed one off of Specter's desk and nearly tripped over his own feet trying to give it to her.

"Thanks, detective," Byrde said.

"Sure thing, pal!" Gumshoe replied. Suddenly, there was a shriek from outside the station.

"HEEEEEEEELP!"

Specter looked up.

"Th-that sounded like..." he breathed. "She needs help!"

"Should I get someone, pal?" Gumshoe asked, looking around.

"No, I'll handle it," Chief Specter replied, standing up. "Agents are...GO!" he roared, pointing forward.

Nothing happened. Gumshoe stared at Specter with a funny look on his face.

"Are you feeling all right, pal?" Gumshoe asked uncertainly.

"Sorry," mumbled Specter. "I've just always wanted to do that."


	8. Manfred's Weekly Tragedies

Why, Manfred thought to himself as he drove down the highway. Why had he let his daughter have a riding crop for her birthday? He should have forseen what would've happened! He should have refused!

No, he thought, turning into the driveway. No. He had always thought of himself as the perfect parent, and he had gotten that crop for her to use when she became a famous prosecutor.

When he entered the house, he saw the wreckage of a lamp on the floor.

"FRANZISKA!" he roared. Franziska came running, riding crop in hand.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Did you break this lamp?" Manfred asked, holding up what was left of said lamp.

Franziska paused for a second.

"Only that bottom part there," she replied.

Manfred bashed his head against the wall.


	9. Excellence

Apollo slumped, defeated, against the wall. Klavier had him, he knew it. There was only one way out of this: bluff.

"OBJECTION!" he roared, suddenly strong. Klavier looked up, slightly surprised but still confident.

"Yes, Herr Forehead?" Klavier asked.

"I-I thought I would think up a question while I was yelling," said Apollo, "But I didn't. You win, Klavier."

"EXCELLENT!" Klavier cried. He started to play the air guitar.


	10. Tree in the Storm

_**WARNING: This story contains major Ace Attorney Investigations SPOILERS!**  
_

"Prisoner 711420, you have a visitor."

Damon Gant's eyes slowly opened, the stone ceiling above him filling his gaze. He did not turn to face the prison guard stationed at his door immediately, but rather sat up and stared, unblinkingly, at the wall. How long had he been in this dark and cold place, Gant wondered, just as he did every day. How long had he sat alone, a shell of the man he had once been? The days had blurred into one insane mess in Gant's mind.

"Hurry up, Prisoner 711420!" the guard barked. Gant sighed, and swung his feet out of his bed. He had no idea who would want to visit him. He tried thinking about possibilities as he followed the guard down the hallway to the room where he was to be seated behind a plastic sheet in order to see and speak to his visitor without risk of endangering anyone.

Gant and the guard made it to the room, and Gant slid into the chair in front of the plastic sheet, his eyes downturned. Slowly, he looked up, and saw someone he never thought he'd see again in his life. For the first time in months, possibly even years, Gant's face broke into a genuine smile.

"Ah, cousin," said he. "It is so nice to see you after all this time."

The visitor, who was attired in a green army uniform, held up a hand.

"It saddens me to see you like this, Damon," he said. "You are but a shell of the man you once were. You used to be so proud..."

"And from the looks and sounds of things, you have only gotten prouder," chuckled Gant. "How many medals do you have on that uniform of yours now? Seven? Eight?"

"Oh, spare me this nonsense," the cousin said, though a smile was playing on his lips. "I have the same as last you saw me. I have just been promoted to a very high office. What have you been up to, these three long years?"

"Prison, old boy," replied Gant. Slowly, the color was returning to his long-drained face, and his old jovial attitude was returning. "A man can go mad in here. There's nothing to do but count the tiles in your cell. There are 4,214 in mine, incidentally."

"Fascinating," said the other man dryly. "Been swimming lately?"

"Don't be ridiculous," said Gant. "I'm stuck in my cell almost all day, every day, with occasional breaks for walks and meals. I am in a very high-security part of the prison. No such luxuries as swimming pools where I'm at. It's far from jolly."

The man shuddered. "Prison sounds awful. But if I play my cards right, I should not have to end up here." He stared at Gant, who slumped in his chair.

"All right, visiting hours are over!" called a guard. "Let's wrap things up!"

Gant sighed. "I would have liked more time," he said. "This has been my first friendly contact in a very long time."

"I'm sorry, Damon," the army man replied. "I must remember to visit more often."

"Please do," Gant replied. "Thank you for visiting me, Quercus."


End file.
